Things We Do When We Fall in Love – Dang wo men tong zai yi qi (2007)

Directed by: James Lee | 89 minutes | drama | Actors: Amy Len Siew Mee, Loh Bok Lai

‘Things We Do When We Fall in Love’ is James Lee’s second installment in his love trilogy, which began in 2006 with ‘Before We Fall in Love Again’. In contrast to the first film, ‘Things We Do’ was shot in color and mainly with a handheld camera, which increases the realism. Sometimes it’s like watching a ‘real life’ show. The two protagonists, Amy Len Siew Mee and Loh Bok Lai, their characters remain nameless, are in a relationship, but are already at the stage where a fight is no longer earth-shattering, as such a first disagreement in a period of infatuation can often be. The woman is picked up from work by her boyfriend. From the back seat, the audience watches as she is sad and comforted by her boyfriend. Lee omits to explain the grief. On a whim, the woman suggests to leave the city for an evening, followed by a road trip.

Although the acting is more than adequate, the two actors do not really manage to bond with the viewer. Although the characters are lifelike, and are portrayed in all their flaws and quirks, there is still no direct reason to feel sympathy for them. Perhaps Lee’s decision to film the film primarily from the man’s perspective is to blame. For example, when he parks the car after a discussion and she leaves the car to go for a walk, the viewer, like the man, stays in the back of the car only to be annoyed by his honking and yelling at his girlfriend. When the man finally decides to follow her, he gets lost and ends up in a desert. This is one of the few funny moments, because at the beginning of the film the man made a long argument to a colleague, who proudly shows him his new mobile phone equipped with GPS, about the nonsense of this, because after all in today’s world can no longer get lost.

There are more reasons to dislike the male character. In the garden center they visit, he strikes up a conversation with the owner, in which he asks if he can smoke. She agrees, but indicates that she prefers not to. The man turns and immediately lights a cigarette. It’s little things that make the viewer prefer the woman rather than the man. For example, if she asks him what time it is, he doesn’t answer straight away, but asks – almost punitively – where her watch is.

The woman is also not without idiosyncrasies. After the quite long walk where her boyfriend got lost, she is casually waiting for him in the car and it is as if nothing has happened and the sky has cleared again. The subject is kept silent again and they enjoy themselves at a fair in a nearby village. In the motel room they finally book, things erupt again and it turns out that both have been having an affair. She begs him to say the name of the person with whom he has cheated, he refuses. After he leaves the motel to smoke a cigarette and drive a bit (danceling his frustrations away in the middle of the highway in a strange, almost surreal scene), he promises her never to leave her when he returns.

As in the first part of Lee’s trilogy, this film also contains an epilogue that sheds a different light on the matter. However, the impact of the story is less strong than with ‘Before We Fall in Love Again’. The lack of almost any kind of humor and the voyeuristic way in which we get to know these two characters is the cause. It is no fun to watch these two people, who in their inability to be honest with each other, hurt themselves and thus the viewer.